Within Green Eggs and Ham are lessons that any entrepreneur, salesman, or recruiter should take to heart. If you sell or promote a product, service, or opportunity, you would be wise to pay attention to Sam-I-Am.

Sam-I-Am created a product that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. He knew it had the potential to transform the breakfast game. He identified one man to be an early adopter, and hopefully a life-long customer. But the man was not interested and even hostile towards Sam-I-Am. Sam-I-Am then showed great perseverance and creativity to get the man to try his green eggs and ham.

What follows are four interrelated principles we learn from Sam-I-Am:

1. Believe in Your Product
2. Don’t Fear Rejection
3. Be Willing to Innovate
4. Love Your Customers

1. Believe in Your Product

I heard someone break “enthusiasm” into two parts; Enthus and IASM. Enthus comes from the Greek “to be inspired by God/possessed by a god.” Enthus is to be captivated by an idea, and IASM is an acronym for “I am sold myself.“

Do you believe in what you are selling? Are you sold yourself?

When I was a barista there were seasons when we tried to sell different promotional bags of coffee. We were supposed to tell every customer about the coffee we were selling. I struggled with this because I didn’t really believe in the product. I didn’t care whether they made our coffee at home or came to the coffee shop. It felt like an obligation when I asked people if they wanted to buy beans. I didn’t have much excitement or a sense of curiosity about what they were looking for in a product. I did the bear minimum to keep my manager happy. As a result, I didn’t sell much coffee.

“Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” We can’t help but talk about things that are important to us and that we really believe in.

Sam-I-Am is sold on green eggs and ham. He was confident that it would make people’s lives better. (I’m going to assume that this is all organic, free-range, with no added hormones or preservatives). We can tell he believes in his product by how he perseveres and remains optimistic in the face of rejection. Which brings us to the second point.

2. Don’t Fear Rejection

Green Eggs and Ham begins with a man asserting that he does not like Sam-I-Am. It is unclear why he has this negative bias. When Sam-I-Am offered green eggs and ham, the man refused. It is unclear if he refused because he disliked Sam-I-Am or because the product was so different.

He said “no” to green eggs and ham more than 70 times before agreeing to take a bite. Sam-I-Am was willing to face rejection because he believed in his product. He wasn’t afraid of being annoying (even though the man found him to be quite annoying).

How often do you get a “no” and never try again? Maybe someone didn’t respond to a text or answer a phone call and we assume that they don’t want anything to do with us or are annoyed by us. What if there is nothing wrong with us or the product? What if we just need to try a different way?

3. Be Willing to Innovate

When the man said he didn’t like green eggs and ham, Sam-I-Am didn’t take no for an answer. He was persistent and offered different situations in which the man could eat green eggs and ham:

1. Here
2. There
3. In a house
4. With a mouse
5. In a box
6. With a fox
7. In a car
8. In a tree
9. On a train
10. In the dark
11. In the rain
12. With a goat
13. On a boat

Sam-I-Am was willing to change things up and find new ways to make his product appealing. He didn’t “shake the dust off his feet” and move on until he exhausted every reasonable option. He did the hard work of getting to know his customer and adapting to fit the individual.

How about you? What innovations do you need to make to communicate more effectively with your constituents?

4. Love Your Customers

Sam-I-Am loved the man enough to persevere. He believed that green eggs and ham would improve the man’s quality of life, so he creatively attempted to get the man to try them. Jesus said that there is no greater love than laying one’s life down for a friend (John 15:13). Sam-I-Am laid down his comfort, his time, and his respectability. He endured rejection and anger so that the man would have a great meal. (I am assuming that Sam-I-Am has good intentions with the man and isn’t trying to get him addicted to a product that will end killing him. I am also assuming that his primary concern is for the man, and not for the money the man may or may not give him).

If you have something that can improve people’s lives, it is loving to do whatever it takes to encourage them to try it. Whether you are a personal trainer, financial advisor, evangelist, or coach, if you believe in what you are offering and care about the quality of their lives, you will do what it takes to get a ‘yes’.

Do you love them enough to try a new approach?

Do you love them enough to hear “no” multiple times?

Are you sold yourself?